No Excuses

Baby and I were sick there for a while. I am happy to say I am pretty much better. I am sad to say my little man is a little slower to mend.

So along with my new home I want a new body.

I have been working hard to make our house a home. Unloading boxes and putting things where they belong, adding to the give away/goodwill pile. It is a work in progress. I am sad to say I still haven’t come across my Healthy Diva Christmas trade stuff. When I find it, it will be off in the mail.

Baby has been a Wonderful exercise tool. When he needs attention I pick him up and do some bench presses. Yep, he works well being over 23 pounds. I am feeling the burn. He also helps me do crunch thingies. I put him on my legs while bringing both my neck and legs together. It feels like it is helping my stomach. We also do double leg lifts together. He shows off his adorable dimples while I count and make funny faces at him.

I have also been working at eating better again. I don’t know about you, but when I stress out I crave chocolate and other “bad” foods. Awe my homemade pizza. One of the great loves of my life.

Along with baby weights I have been working on cardio. I have to do this. I am feeling so sluggish and sad that I only have 3 skirts and one pair of jeans that fit OK. I hate being this far off track. So here I go yet again. My life has settled and I have no excuse for staying this way.

The thing that really threw me off the ledge of overweight comfort is Family pictures. We hadn’t had any taken for just under 4 years. So when were offered a free 8 x 10 by our insurance agent for Christmas, we jumped at the opportunity. We had done some more moving that day and were only able to find all solid long sleeve shirts (so we don’t match well) and we ran to get our pictures taken. I thought my hair looked OK, boy was I wrong I have frizzy hair and it shows. I have been indoors with baby a lot and I look like Casper the friendly over weight ghost with witches’ hair. Yep I am big, frizzy and white as can be. Still I ordered 5x7’s for my family for Christmas since they all need to see baby.

So now that I made this my Health and anything else I feel blog I have you all to encourage me and listen to my ups, my downs and anything else I feel like blogging about. Thanks You all for your support.

Going Private

For all of my Family and close personal friends I am going private in a new blog. I will keep this blog for my journey to health and any other non personal things I want to blog about.

I made the new blog so check your email for your invitation. If you didn't get an invite and feel you should, well then you probably should have. I am sorry to have missed you. Please email me or leave a comment and I will send you an invite.

I want to be able to write more about my kids and at the same time feel more secure to share more pictures and personal information. It will be fun to see how this works out. I know going private is hard for the people wanting to look. It can be a pain to log in, but I think this is best for my family.

Life is never dull in our house

We did it. We finally moved Saturday November 8. I love our house. I will post pictures soon. I haven’t taken any since Baby B and I have been super sick the whole dang time. Now he has a double ear infection, croup and a super bad cold. To top all that off yesterday he got 4 shots.

Our short time in our new home has been super eventful. For those of you who don’t know on top of our regular jobs we serve in jobs in the church for free. My honey was released from his calling in our old ward only to be called as an HC in our new ward before our first Sunday there.

The boys have been attending scouts in our new ward and having a lot of fun. I love how they are always made to feel welcome no matter where we go. Well they have been working on swimming stuff. So A was trying to find the perfect (light weight) outfit to wear to jump in the pool in. He found a pair of pants and the button was missing. He wanted to dress nice since our family needed to attend the first meeting with E in our church clothes. So E being the sweetie he is found a large belt and was attempting to add an extra belt hole so the belt would better fit A. Yes, he sliced his finger right to the bone. Oh, it was such a mess. This happened right as we were getting ready to run out the door to be on time. Awe the memories I get living with all men. Let me just say it took a long time to stop bleeding. I grabbed some superglue to take with us and we left. So E excused himself to go clean the wound and put some superglue on. Being a man it is a mess. I wish he would have let me help. All the other men were so kind, but did get a nice chuckle out of this.

So when we arrived at the Seminary building (nope we don’t have our own Stake Center yet) there were a lot of trailers and lights. Parking was jammed and it the lights were drawing our attention. My Father in Law said the movie “The Spy Next Door” staring Jackie Chan was filming there. Traffic when we left was worse. Still I was able to get out and drive up the street to the pool to drop off the two oldest for scouts.

When Eric got home it was so fun to hear about his experience. What really made me laugh was that he couldn’t shake hands with the others since his cut was on a knuckle and he was afraid that it would reopen. I love my hubby and all that he does for our little family. We have been so blessed.

Gratitude

In getting caught up in all that I have missed over the loss of the net due to our move, I was reading the Healthy Divas post on Gratitude. Today I want to share five of the things I am grateful for.

1. I am grateful the Lord blessed us with a house of our own.

2. I am grateful for all the friends and family that have/will help us pack, move and clean the old house.

3. I am Super Grateful for my 5 men. Yes I may be seriously outnumbered, but they are all mine and I wouldn't have it any other way.

4. I am grateful for my health and the health of all of my men.

5. I am grateful for the Internet and the knowledge and communication in gives me.

I have other things I am grateful, but these five (in no particular order) is enough for now. I hope you have a Wonderful day.

What are 5 things are you grateful for today?

What does my Birth Month mean

So I am tired and worn out. So for fun I found and decided to post this little quiz. It is almost true. I found my colors to be wrong. I would have to say Green would be my color.

Your Birth Month is September

Tolerant and inspirational, you are wise beyond your years. You are universally sympathetic and a great humanitarian. Your soul reflects: Devotion, light, and love Your gemstone: Sapphire Your flower: Morning Glory Your colors: Brown and deep blue

What Does Your Birth Month Mean?

Newsflash

Brantley's First Tooth

November 4, 2008

After months of drool-soaked bibs, Brantley's first tooth was spotted on November 4, 2008 poking through the gum. Mom is excited about the new pearly white, but knows this is just the start of many months of fussy teething. One down, 19 to go!

Halloween

I just wanted to take a minute and share my Halloween pictures. They are from a family dinner at my SIL's house. I am sad to say my older boys don't want to dress up any more. I am feeling so old, again.

I Feel Bad

Isn't this the cutest smile. Look at those double dimples.

I feel so bad for not posting as much as I would like. We are getting ready to move next week and things are a bit crazy here at home. I have so much organizing and packing to do. Not to mention chasing after my super mover, baby Brantley who is just 5 1/2 months, but can be somewhere different in a blink of an eye.

We are blessed. So much has gone on with the house situation. I just have to say we are being looked after and for that I am grateful. I am reminded of a song with this sentence "We are his hands, his hands of heaven on earth." I have seen a ton of heavenly hands on earth lately and a lot of times they are helping our family.

My belly is pudging out a little. I am sure it is the stress we are under. So I have to say the getting fit is on the back burner until we are settled into our new home. I am eating much better and with all of the cleaning and packing I am sure I am burning a ton of calories.

I have gotten off track...

Healthy Update:

Between worrying and searching for ways to get the last bit of money we need to close on our house I haven’t done as well as I should on getting healthy.

I have added milled flaxseed to my breakfast and anything else I can think of. I add it to oatmeal, Great Grains by Post and my yogurt. I love the flavor and I can feel the benefits. Does that sound weird? Well it is true. I have also added a salad a day for one meal. I sprinkle it with almond slices, egg slices and chicken. Boy it is getting to be a staple. I have even added some weight watchers snacks. I love chocolate and this way I can have some and not feel too bad. Working out has gone out the window this week. I have missed my torture session both Tuesday and Thursday and I think my thighs are mad at me for missing it.

Life:

Last Saturday I checked the mail and guess what I found? I found a big envelope for me. Yea!!! I was so happy. My longest friend Jennifer from Alaska sent me an apron I won and another wonderful apron for crafting. I need to take pictures, but haven’t been worrying about my looks to much while I get the house ready to move. One day I will add pictures of these wonderful gifts. I never get mail and I am sure that is from never sending any and it is something I am working on.

I am getting very excited about moving. I need our own home. Our house (soon to be ours) is so cute, whenever I go look at it I feel like I have come home. Our family continues to pray that this will work out. We are scheduled to close November 7th. I have to say the ideas are flowing and I can’t wait to make that house a home.

For Family Home Evening this Monday we did a lesson on unity. For an activity we cleaned the garage. You know what I mean. We made sure the Christmas decorations were in the Christmas bins and that each boy put their stuff in their bins. It was so much fun. I loved the time we worked together to organize our home.

Have you ever heard the phrase “Don’t mess with Momma Bear”? My eight year old is behind in his reading. He has been diagnosed with a learning problem with letters. However that boy is brilliant in math. Well he is in a special class that frequently (too frequently in my book) combines with a regular class. Now they want a book report and project. Eric and I feel like he shouldn't do this in the regular class. I mean how cool would it be to do a report on “The Cat in the Hat” to kids that are doing theirs on the magic tree house or something? Boy I wrote his teacher a cute note and I am stressing to see what will become of this. Ugh I am so frustrated about this.

Now that I have caught you up on "What's going on here" I'd better go.

He can Roll!!!

At 5 months 1 day I missed it with the camera, then today at 5 months 2 days I caught it. Yea!!! Here I thought he would never roll because of his size. I am so proud.

You only need to watch the first few seconds. The rest was waiting to see if he would roll back to his back. He never did this time.

See video at the bottom of this page.

Stock pot and more

Today I decided to break in my WONDERFUL new stock pot that Bonnie gave me for my birthday. I had a craving for homemade Chicken and Dumplings. Being from the south I really wanted some southern comfort food. So I searched the internet for the perfect recipe since I have never made this from scratch. I found this Paula Dean recipe and knew it would be wonderful. (Kathy, sorry please don’t tell Mike)

My sons and I ran to Wal-Mart to get the ingredients that we didn’t have, including a whole chicken so I could get started. It was more fun then you could ever understand to fit a whole chicken in a pot with a bunch of other ingredients. It tasted so good. Here I am trying to loose weight and I run out after working out to make southern comfort food.

Speaking of getting fit. I am been doing fairly well in eating right. Adding more fruits and vegetables to my diet except for my weakness for ice cream. I ran out last night get to get a cheap Sunday and scarf it down. Boy did it hit the spot. Of course I pretty much jumped into bed so it went straight to my thighs again. My work out instructor lived up to her drill sergent reputation today. I was having a hard time keeping up in the warm up. Andrew came with me to watch and he came home and told his brothers how hard it all looked. I love it. I don’t have much coordination though so I don’t really try on some steps.

If I make this public, maybe I will work harder.

Did that catch your attention? I have mentioned it before and I will mention it again. I LOVE sparkpeople.com. Since I want to get back to my goal weight (I was almost there last May) I am working really hard to be healthy. I even joined a Biggest Looser challenge that starts today and this is the blog I posted. (It was a bad first day of a challange)

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Today I was to go work out with my friends. It isn't an easy work out. It is a lot like a boot camp and I love how many calories I burn. However, I may have busted a bone in my foot. It hurts so bad.

The two really stinky things are:
1. I have no insurance so I can't get it checked out.
2. My body is going to turn to mush.

I really need this work out twice a week. The exercise I did get today was lugging around my 22 lb baby, walking up and down the stairs and doing laundry. At least I wasn't sitting around.

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I will continue to post my progress here so I can have your encouragement. Thanks!

What we are doing to achieve our goal...

To start off we are doing much fasting and prayer. This is such a trial of faith for me.

Eric is looking to sell some of his territory of Southwesterncedaroil.com. It is his all natural pest control company. Can you believe he is the only one in our area selling all natural? I love the smell. He is also attending more marketing groups to gain a better business rapport and cliental. Boy is he stressed. He is also looking into business grants to help him out.

I am searching for any housing helps and calling other lenders to see what they have for the self employed. I am so glad I know as much as I do about mortgages and loans. I really appreciate the education my job has given me. We don’t qualify for the FHA MFA as Love is self employed and this is the most frustrating thing ever.

Now on to other news:

I may have busted up a bone in my foot, but I don’t have insurance right now (the state and I are working on this) to find out for sure. It starting hurting in the middle of the night and I honestly don’t remember what I could have done to hurt it so bad. Walking is a pain. Oh and I missed my torture work out session. I really was looking forward to it. I am getting a light bruise; mostly it just hurts to apply any pressure on it. Eric thinks I was so exhausted I didn’t think about it when I hurt myself. I was very tired. I have a little cold and felt like I was fighting the flu over the weekend. I can’t take any cold medicine since I feed Brantley. So now is the waiting game to see how my foot heals.

I forgot to tell you about Christian’s concert last Thursday, it was wonderful. He is so talented. He plays the sax and does such a good job at it. The conductor mentioned that his band was mostly 9th graders with only a few really talented 8th graders. The music was amazing. I love to attend concerts.

Random thoughts

Eric and I have felt for a while now that we need to move out of the house we are renting into a home that is ours. So for about a year now we have been looking for a home. We’ve looked at fixer uppers even though with Eric’s job and church calling he wouldn’t have much time to fix up a home. We have looked near and we have looked far. Well not really far just out of school and church boundaries. We have made offers on too many homes to count only to have them sold out from beneath us. We have thought and prayed and wondered what we should do next.

Now we have found a home. A nice small, beautiful and well maintained home and we won the bidding war. It could be ours. We just need a million bucks to get into it. OK not a million dollars, just more then we have since the loan economy keeps changing the loan we were approved for is no longer available. The FHA MFA won’t work for us since Eric has only been self employed for 1.5 years we don’t qualify. We have about 2.5 weeks to figure out what we are going to do.

What a trial we are facing. Our family is having a test of Faith. Even if nothing comes of this home we know we are doing what the Lord wants us to do. I wanted you all to know why we have sort of reverted into our shells. Please don’t tell everyone that the E family is moving. We have no idea what will come of this. We are just doing the best we can.

Now on to other news: Tomorrow I go in for my next torture session. OK, so it is just a work out that last week took 4 days to recover from. I have to admit, I enjoyed it. I love to be healthy.

Well I guess that is it for now. Bye.

No Pain. No Gain..

For months and months my family and friends have said “Elizabeth you have to come work out with us.” & “Join us at the stake center, you will love it.”

Yesterday being my birthday, realizing I am not getting any younger I went. Let me tell you our instructor is a wonderful drill sergeant. I attempted to keep up. With most of it I did fairly well. The walking lunges killed me adding in knee rises and/or kicks and I was feeling the burn. Ouch. I hurt so much. I couldn’t even coordinate myself to do too many of the lunges. So I was afraid that I wouldn't feel the effects of my hour long work out. Boy, I worried for nothing. I am in so much pain. Coming down the stairs is the worst. No maybe sitting is the worst. My whole body aches.

The sad thing is there is not another workout until next Tuesday. So I am sure my body will turn to mush before it receives its next shock treatment.

Speaking of yesterday it was wonderful. Before my boys left for school they all came to tell me happy birthday. Even if I was asleep they let me know they loved me. My Father called. We don’t speak too often, but when we have a nice conversation like yesterday morning I love it. I wish we were closer. My Mother called later in the day and my Brother JR too. I love hearing from my family. I miss them all so much. None of them have met baby B yet and that makes me sad.

Eric and I had to run an errand in the evening and I came home to fresh blueberry muffins made by C. I didn’t feel like having one last night, but it was a wonderful breakfast this morning.

I was very sore and even had a huge headache by the evening that Eric stayed home from his church duties to help me with the two youngest so I could get some rest. That was a nice gift in and of it’s self.

Thank you Everyone for the notes and calls. I appreciate you all.

General Relief Socitey Meeting

Wasn’t last night Wonderful? I love to go to the broadcast at the church just for the joy of being with my friends. Last night was no exception. I may not always feel super comfortable in our ward, but last night our ward showed a unity that we had not seen before. Our sisters all sat on one row and then took up most of the row in front of that. We did loose three sisters to the side lines, but we all went out for dessert after wards.

The talks were amazing. I was reminded that we need to let go of our insecurities and recognize the good we all do. We need to be better at reaching out to others and realizing when they have a need that we can help with. I like to take notes at all the different conferences and last night I couldn’t as we were all squashed like a can of sardines (what a good thing). Thankfully I recorded it so I can take notes here at home this week.

I am so proud of our ward and the unity we showed last night. I loved that we came together for dessert and spent time getting to know each other better.

Surprise!!!

Last night I was given a surprise Birthday party. It was so much fun. I didn’t expect so many people I love to be there, yet most everyone was.

The day started with Eric calling and saying he wanted to take me out for my birthday. What was weird about this is he already had a sitter and she was going to watch all 4 boys at her house. Usually we only have sitters watch the youngest or the youngest two.

Later he called to ask where I wanted to go. I being a passive woman (yea right) said where ever you want honey. He replied OK. He never gives in that easily. So then I figured something was up.

Well I was surprised. I really didn’t expect a Huge party in my honor, yet I had an amazing one. I only knew something was up, I had no clue what. I was just thrown a surprise party 3 years ago by my Sisters in Law. So I wouldn’t think there would be another so soon.

It was a lot of fun. Eric bought me a Kitchen Aid stand mixer a few weeks ago. We have already used it to make breads and desserts. My whole family loves my gift and with the cost of bread on the rise we are sure getting our moneys worth out of using it. Last night I received donations to help pay for the Kitchen Aid, a stock pot, fruity body soap and lotion, chocolate, a candle, flowers and some funnels that will be great for making and pouring my own syrup that I have wanted to make for a while.

It was a Wonderful night and a lot of fun. I love my friends and family for coming to play with me. Thank You. Sorry there are no pictures.

Here I Go Again

I love sparkpeople.com . Before I got pregnant I had lost 23 lbs. using this free weight loss site. Now feeling like I need to get going again I posted this on my sparkpeople blog and thought you might get a kick out of it.

Today, Monday September 22, 2008. I am starting over. After eating breakfast I remembered to get on the scale and check my weight. My starting weight is 1??. (you guys are friends and don't need to know how fat I am so I hid my weight)

I had my baby boy in May and have not wanted to exercise as it has been such a shock starting over. My next oldest child is 8. Sleeping, feeding, changing diapers and my favorite playing has taken so much time I haven't thought about much else.

Now over the past few weeks I have begun to cook again. I love it when I cook. The food tastes better, it is more filling and I can control how healthy the meal is. I love it when one of my men (1 hubby and 4 boys) says how great dinner is. It makes me feel so good and when I feel good I do more and feel even better. The more I do the more weight I will loose.

So starting now I am getting back on track. I will exercise a little every day until I get back in the grove then I will do even more. Baby Steps. I will eat better, sit up straighter and read more motivational stories. When I read a motivational story I feel inspired to work harder. I will watch biggest looser and get even more inspired. If they can loose weight so can I!!!

A Picture worth a thousand words...

Taken 09/11/2008 just barely 4 months old.

I have the Greatest Friends!!!

I have been blessed with some amazing friends. We are there for each other through the highs and lows of life. We give when we thought there was nothing else to give.

Example #1 Brantley is getting worse at this sleeping thing. His room is near the other boys’ rooms so we try to keep him from waking up his brothers at night especially now that school is in session. Christian even has to be up at 5:45 am. When he was younger the oldest boys would get up with the first peep from their baby brother, no matter how hard we tried to teach them to leave him alone.

This lack of sleep is starting to take a big toll on me. Today I was so exhausted that I thought of my friends and wondered who could come help me. I needed some rest. I was able to reach my friend Kathy and she ran to my rescue. Although she has a job she jumped at the chance to help me and I love her so much for the rest I got this afternoon. She has a job where she was able to jump up and come help and I was able to get through the day with the little nap I got. Thank you!!!

Example #2 My buddy Bonnie called today and told me that there were 11 police cars out near her home. It was so scary and then funny talking through all of the drama, but I sure felt better keeping her on the phone and knowing she was ok. She and I had so much fun talking about her neighborhood drama. By then end there were 16 police vehicles. I am so glad she and her family are safe.

Example #3 Getting babies first Christmas ornament from a friend that loves me and my baby. It was so much fun getting this gift.

I have been blessed too many times to write about. It is nice to know you can call on a good friend when you need help, comfort or just a smile. I think most of you that read my blog have been that kind of friend to me at one time or another. Thank you so much for love you give to me.

I am Blessed!!!

I can’t believe it has been over a week since I last blogged. I guess you can tell that not much has been going on here.

We are all doing well and Nathan earned his Bobcat in scouts. That was so exciting for both Mom and Nathan. I would post pictures, but somehow there are none.

I have been cooking up a storm. I love this slightly cooler weather.

I wish I had more to say, but I don’t. Sorry.

Chicken Biscuit Bake

I miss cooking. I use to love to try new things, but for some reason I gave it up for a while. Lately I have been getting the cooking bug again (Thanks to the good examples of my wonderful friends.) I pulled out my old Taste of Home Quick Cooking magazines and found a few recipes to try. Today was this chicken bake. I found this in the May/June 2000 magazine on page 47. I doubled the recipe and made it very early so that Christian and Eric could eat it before they left for a church activity. It wasn't done in time and you can tell it was a rushed job.

This is a picture of the first pan. You can tell it is the first pan by the lack of biscuits on the top. If I wasn't in a rush I would have known that I could put 40 halves on each pan. So instead I just guessed and it looks funny.

This is the second pan with too many biscuits. I have to say it still looks better this way.
So now you are thinking how did they taste. They are good. I need my Honey to come home to give me an honest opinion. I think next time I will use a little less celery seed in the topping and a little less Worcestershire sauce too.

Pictures

Today I ran into my good friend Nancy at the store. She is such a sweetie. I miss working with her. Well she let me know that I don't put enough pictures on my blog (I think she was talking about the Baby). So I am putting pictures on this blog today.

August 25, 2008 ~ After days of Brantley wanting me to keep him standing up I ran out a bought a used exersaucer for him. It is now his favorite toy. He is much happier and I get to cook again.

What a beautiful baby. Check out those cheeks.

We are so blessed. These are all of the clothes that are 9-12 months. Brantley should be warm this winter.

Christian and Brantley relaxing yesterday.

His shirt says it all "Handsome."

Elizabeth was Tagged by JaNae ;-)

How to play this game: Post these rules on your blog; List 3 joys, 3 fears, 3 goals, 3 current obsessions/collections, 3 random surprising facts about yourself. Tag 5-6 people at the end of your post by leaving their names.

Joys:
1. Being Eric’s wife.
2. Being the lucky Mom of my 4 sons.
3. Being friends with so many wonderful women.

Fears:
1. Fear for my children in this crazy world.
2. Fear of saying something and it comes out the wrong way. I have a bad way with words.
3. Never being as smart as I would like.

Obsessions/Collections:
1. Reading great books.
2. Having girl time out once in a while.
3. Trying to keep up with my over achieving friends.

Goals:
1. Learn to be more patient/understanding/non-judgmental. (Yes JaNae, I am always working on that too.)
2. To be a better Wife and Mom. I love my men.
3. I am always working on reading more scriptures to gain a better understanding.

Random Surprise Things:
1. There is at least one quality in each of my friends that I strive to gain to be more like them.
2. I have only stepped off the continental US once into Mexico.
3. I always dream of remedying #3.

I tag: Jennifer, Mellani, Sarah and whoever else wants to do this.

Kiley, This is for you...

I just told the Mother of my son Christians longest friend Kiley about our family blog and her mother said Kiley would look at it soon. So I decided to add all pictures I could find of Christian over the past few months for today's blog. Kiley these pictures are for you(well and any other friends who look at my blog and want to see my handsome oldest child.)

The Animal Planet expo at Balloon Fiesta park 08/02/2008

Helping with Nathan's birthday party 08/09/2008

Receiving his first class scout badge 07/29/2008

Self Portrait don't know the date.

Help me with my blog

As you can see I am trying to update my blog background with the cutest blog on the block. Well it isn't working. It keeps the blogger template and just adds the button for their site on the top left. Please send me an email with your ideas.

Well sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. UGH...

Playing with my Blog

I am trying to update my blog background and finding one I like. In doing so my list of favorite blogs has been lost. Please send me a link to your blog if you have one. I will add it to my list. I come to my site and click on my friends links to check on their blogs and if I don't have your link then I can't check your blog. Help me please.

I had my two oldest "Daughters" (my buddy Bonnie's girls are my daughters on loan) over on Saturday and we worked very hard to make 3 of the little totes for their scriptures. It was wonderful having them here, but I am not made for that much sewing in a day. With Brantley teething it was a tiring day. I have to say the bags were cute and I need to get pictures of all 4 girls with their bags to post.

Eric and I went on a date to the dollar movie and saw the newest Adam Sandler movie. Don't Go. It is a waste of money and we should have walked out. What is sad is that we ordered a pay per view for our boys to watch at home and it was a waste of money too. They didn't like the language in it and so we deleted it as soon as we could, with their blessings. I am so proud of them.

Update on our Family

So much has happened since I last updated you. First off we had baby Brantley's blessing.




Isn’t he cute? We were given an unused white suit and he looked so big. We couldn’t even do up the neck button or put on the matching tie. I didn’t have any family here and that was very different, but I am thankful for the friends who came to support me as my family.

Last week Nathan turned 8 years old. I can’t believe how the time has flown by. He is turning into such a little man. I am so proud of the man he is becoming. So Friday was his birthday party and he invited most every kid he knows. My older boys (Christian and Andrew) worked with me to make some cakes. We had so much fun and stress working on those cakes. They were the kind with ice cream in the center. We wanted them to look like the #8 when they were put together, but that didn’t turn out as well as we had hope. I have to say they still tasted wonderful. I stole my friends kitchen aid and used it to make wonderful icing and now I need a kitchen aid of my own. That story will come in a future blog. The party was big and loud here at our house. We were going to play at the grass park nearby, but the weather didn’t let us. Still I think the children had fun.

Saturday we had his baptism. It was very nice and with so many children getting baptized it was well attended. I couldn’t help but miss the attendance of my family; however I am very grateful that Eric has his supportive family nearby. Here is a picture of Nathan and his good buddy Kalista.

Don't they look like a pic from a young prom or something?

This summer we have spent a little time at the pools and just getting to know our new addition. School starts this week for our two oldest boys and I am going to miss them and their help. Next week I will loose my last helper when Nathan starts school. It will be interesting to see how I handle being alone with baby B. Wow, it has been such a long time since I was alone with a baby; I hope I remember what to do.

UGH

So I spent a lot of time updating my blog. I added pictures and told you all about what our little family has been up to. Only to have the computer eat it. Oh well. I am alive and kicking. I will post my update and pictures soon. Bye.

The Memory Game.

Please play this. I copied this from my childhood friend, Jennifer's blog. It was so fun to read what others said about her.

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you.

It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you. If you don't want to play on your blog, or if you don't have a blog, I'll leave my memory of you in my comments even if you have never met me in real life tell me maybe something that you remembered about me from one of my posts. Remember play nice Cuz pay back is no fun!! LOL

Creativity Bug

I have been with all my men all summer so that now I been hit with the creativity bug. With wanting to do more girlie things. So I pulled out my sewing machine and let her rip. Last night I made a bag. It isn't as big as I would hope. It's more of a scripture bag. Here is a picture.

I have also been working on a secret project for my friend Jennifer. We met on the first day of 7th grade and have been friends ever since. She is a sewing goddess with her 7 living children. I figured if she has time to sew so do I. I have been working on something special for her to have from me, Beth her 7th grade locker partner. What I am making her is super cute I have even thought of keeping it, but I made it with her in mind so I know it has to be hers. However, some of the pattern instructions weren't clear and I messed up. It still works, it just looks like a child made it in some spots. So I have taken time off from my little "secret project for Jen."

Cute Pictures

Well I know I have posted too many times today, but I just have to share a cute picture or two. Sorry about the red eyes. Didn't want to take the time to fix them today.

In this pic he is crying.

Strong willed baby

This is the second picture we have taken where our less then one month old was holding his own bottle. Can you believe it? The other picture isn't able to be posted, but this one is. Isn't he a cute boy who knows what he wants? Yes, for the record I am still Bfeeding him, but he eats too much for me alone.

Brantley turned one month old yesterday. I can't believe how fast time flies. I would have taken some pictures, but I didn't think about it until about 8 pm when we were all ready for bed after the fun trip. He is an awsome baby and such a blessing to our family. My other little me are the best helpers in the world and I am the luckiest mom.

Vacation in Colorado

Our family took our first vacation in years last weekend. We left on Friday afternoon and returned Sunday. We were gone one whole day. No cell phone coverage, no computer and no playstation. It was heaven in Colorado.

When we arrived Friday we unloaded the van and then ran out to dinner. It was a beautiful cafe on the lake, but service was super slow. It was dark when we arrived back at our cabin suite. Here is a pic of our suite.

Here is the only picture of me taken during the whole trip.


As you can see Saturday we spent most of the day on the lake with our extended family. It was a family reunion after all. I miss lakes and water. My family in Utah has a family reunion on the lake every year and this was the same. So much fun.

Thursday Night

Brantley

The lighting could have been better.

I won't post his details online, so if you want to know more email me.

Perfect Flowers from Heather C.

The Song of the Day (Wednesday)

A SON will come out
Tomorrow
Bet your bottom dollar
That tomorrow
I'll have a
Newborn SON

Another night in the hospital

I have been contracting for over 5 weeks. I am not talking little contractions all the time. I have little ones all day and then they will get so hard I can't walk, talk or do anything. That is when I call the doctor. Yesterday I was told to go in the hospital again and so I did. I was having really hard contractions and they were 3 mins apart, AGAIN. So they checked me and yet again no change. I begged "Please just induce me. I hate coming in just to go home again." Nothing.

Here is the kicker. I never saw or talked to a doctor, just the annoying nurse Patricia. At 10:30 at night my doctor walks in. He isn't even the doctor on call. He asked how long I had been there and I told him at least 3 hours and he said no one told him I was there. He just happened to see the board with my name and room number on it. UGH. We talked and he told me why I should wait until Thursday as we planned and I came home, yet again.

I just have to say I have the best friends and family to look after my boys.

My Grumpy Pregnant Rant

Please forgive me, however this post is a grumpy post.

I am so tired of
“Have you had the baby yet?”
“Are you going to have that baby in a public place?”
“Aren’t you in labor?”
ect, ect, ect…

So for those of you who actually check my blog, no I have not had my baby. The ultrasound due date isn’t until the 17th. Yes, I am HUGE. I have dilated and effaced and I plan to have him this week if possible. I walk a lot and eat spicy food; he just doesn’t want to come out yet.

If I don’t answer the phone I am just avoiding the world. I am sick of answering questions. If we are very close then you will be one of the first to know, then it will travel through the grapevine and then it will be posted on this blog.

When you see or talk to a very pregnant women please do not ask aren’t you done yet.

Love and Hugs from our family.

35 Weeks

Today I had Andrew take this picture before we went to see his orthopedic doctor.

This is one of only 2 outfits that kinda still fit.

Exciting 5 day Week End

The boys have had a five day weekend starting last Friday and it has been full of excitement. Friday Eric and I went on a date with our good friends. It started a little late as Eric was busy with work, but that is nothing new. It is always nice to come home and find that my boys haven't hurt each other. Andrew however was having a bad Asthma attack when we walked in the door. We helped him through it and he was able to go to bed and get some rest.

Saturday I had the opportunity to spend time with my buddy Kristi. During our whole visit I had to sit down as I was having contractions. Every time I stood up they got worse. Kristi being the sweetheart that she is timed them and found them to be about 15 minutes apart. Later Saturday night I had been timing them and they were up to 10 minutes apart. I finally called the doctor and he asked me to go to the hospital and get monitored. Thank Heavens I didn't dilate so they were able to give me a shot to stop the contractions. I am not due for about 5 weeks.

Yesterday (Monday) the boys were at a friends house playing and Andrew broke his pinkie.

If you look closely at the bottom of the pinkie where it joins the hand you will see a clear diagonal break just above the growth plate (which we adults don't have.) It is between the pinkie and the ring finger. It may even stunt the growth of that pinkie.

He was riding a scooter with a friend and was turning ,the front wheel got caught in the grove of the sidewalk and threw him. I guess he landed a bit on his knees and face, but with this hand behind him and the pinkie going in the opposite direction. Andrew doesn't remember so this is what Christian said. I got a phone call from Christian saying Andrew was hurt real bad and I took off with his insurance card. There was hardly any bruising. And being Andrew he didn't even cry so most of us didn't think he broke it. I just wanted to be sure if he broke it or not and knowing Andrew I was.

Best week so far...

So this past week has been my best week during this pregnancy. I have had so much fun. I am feeling so good now that I know I can't have any milk, cream, butter and even sometimes eggs. When I eat those things I pay for it for days. I never thought about how hard it is to find foods people would like without these things in it. I went out to eat at a sandwich shop on Tuesday (I think) and I had to order it without both cheese and mayo. I feel like the picky Meg Ryan's character in the movie where she and Billy Crystal are friends. Oh well I can't remember the name for the life of me.

You have been asking, where is a new pic? So here it is... It was taken today just before church.

I know I am huge. Well, I always get big with my little men. My smallest was born at 8lb 2oz. My biggest was 9lb 13oz.

Today was hard getting up and ready for church. We start at 8:30 am and with daylight savings it was like leaving the house at 7:15 not 8:15. However, I made it through the whole thing.

Just wanted to let you know about my hair. People may thing oh look at her messy hair. My hair takes more time and work to look good down and natural. And in person I think that it looked OK. However, this and all the other pictures look to me like I don't care. I just wanted you to know that I really do.

I did get an AWESOME compliment today. Yesterday I went to a food storage fair and I think I looked OK. Yes my hair was wet, but I had my "face" on. Well today a friend came up to me and told me that her husband had asked who the young girl was that she was sitting next to. He thought I was about 22. I was so happy to hear that and let her know to tell him I would be 34 this year.

Clue for Comfort

This is just a little tidbit to make you smile. Just remember we all already knew I am crazy.

Last night I had a hard time sleeping. Every time I got back into bed I would think something like this;

The body pillow, my left side and the fluffly pillow.

The fluffly pillow, my right side and the heart pillow.

At 4:09 am I thought to myself I feel like I am playing the game of clue for comfort.

Well I just wanted to make you smile. Have a great day.

The Rails are UP!!!

I know most of you are thinking "What are you talking about?" Well since last July my mattress and box springs have been sitting on the floor. My good friend Anna gave us some rails when we left her super bowel party a few weeks back. They sat in our garage until today. I am mostly stuck in my room, on my bed reading or watching TV. I was going insane watching TV and having to look up so far to see it on top on the chest of drawers where it sits. So I begged my exhausted, wonderful hubby to please bring in the rails. He did and now my bed is sort of tall again.

Today I am 27 weeks along and showing very much. I hope getting out of bed will not hurt so bad. It was fun maneuvering out of bed all the time. I won't bore you with the details.

I saved all of my energy to attend my Buddy Heathers farewell luncheon at Dions today. It was nice being out of the house, but I felt like crap and looked forward to coming home. Heather is moving about 5 hours away from me. She is my ornery friend and I am going to miss grumping to her very much.

I came home feeling worse then when I left. Eric said yesterday he thinks I may be relapsing into the pneumonia, he may be right. Heather came over later to get a few boxes I had for her and I grabbed her in a hug. I am going to miss that brat. My baby must be mad at her too. He kicked her a great hard kick. I was so proud. She jumped back and was amazed. She has three boys of her own, but had never felt such a strong kick from the out side.

Yesterday my wonderful friend Bonnie came over and we worked on my Baby shower invitations. I am so looking forward to celebrating the birth of this baby and Bonnie has such wonderful ideas. The funny thing is she wanted to make the invites by hand and I have way too many people on my list to invite. So she is making the invites for close family and friends by hand. We labeled others that I already had to send off to other amazing women and then those with email will get an evite, even some close friends will get an evite. We just didn't have enough invitations. I had a wonderful time working with her on this.

I need my men to be around when I have to get cute to take pictures for you all to see the Bump.

Another update

It has been too long since I have updated my blog. I have been under the weather with a bad cold which may have turned into pneumonia. I need to say that being 26 weeks pregnant with Pneumonia is the pits. I just finished my antibiotic today; however I still have a bad cough and a super stuffy nose.

Today I attended church for the first time in what felt like forever. It was wonderful renewing my covenants and feeling the spirit there. Our children have calmed down since I haven’t been there to sit with them this past month. I was impressed with how well behaved Nathan was. I truly enjoyed my attendance today. I chose to leave after sacrament meeting since I was so uncomfortable and still ill.

I am now old enough that I have a teenager. Can you believe it? I still can’t. I just looked over his baby book and am amazed at how young Eric and I were and looked when this young man joined our family. He is such a blessing in our lives. Christian had a wonderful birthday party with friends last week. I love the kids he hangs out with. I have to say he has chosen great friends.

For those who don’t know I spent a few hours last Sunday at the hospital. I received the help I needed, came home and then woke up super sick with this possible pneumonia the next morning. I am being humbled. Friends are taking charge. Helping get my children where they need to be. People I don’t know as well as I would like have brought us meals or are planning on bringing us meals. Eric has to do all of the shopping and other things that I would normally do. The poor guy is getting worn down. I am thinking he needs time out to do something fun and relaxing. I am the type of women who likes to think I can do things on my own. Being so sick I have to stick to one floor and do nothing has shown me that I am not super women and it kills me. I am sure there is a reason I am having to learn this.

Now that I have talked your ear off I should go.

Hello Everyone

Yesterday turned out fun. I was super sleepy in the morining and ended up missing church. I rested and slept the whole time my family was gone. Then I rested more when they came home.

Some of you have asked what is wrong so for those who don't know let me tell you. I haven't been pregnant for 7 years. I am in my mid thirties and my body is freeking out. I have really bad nausea, upset ligaments, head aches and I am super tired. Overall I really am doing quite well. It could be worse and I know I am blessed. I have met some women worse off and I am happy I have only the few problems I do. I found an anti nausea pill that works, but I am working with the insurance to get it covered. So far no luck.

So after resting all day our family went to a good friends to watch the super bowel. Ok so I didn't watch much if any. But how can I complain about Great Friends and Super Good Food. I tell you I have friends that need to open their own cafe. I laughed a ton and enjoyed being out of the house. Then they sent me home with some of their wonderful enchaladas. Everytime we are together and Anna cooks I learn more how to cook great Mexican food.

Today I had a burst of speed after sleeping most of the night. I think everyone who knows what a hard time I have had sleeping this last week had prayed for me to sleep. Oh the rest was goooood. So being a dork and feeling the need to contribute more to my home I did the dishes and began some laundry. Then I got ready for the day so I could help out at my Allied job. Boy did I pay. I had to sit down and rest agian. For a few hours. Then I finally went to work and I was so slow and wornout. I ran home when I was done and did what? REST...

My family is so wonderful. They are such a blessing and so good to me. Thank you ALL for caring about me.

97 Day Finale Tribute to Pres. Gordon B. Hinckley

This was Forwarded to me and my men and I think it is neat. I found these websites useful for my goal setting/tracking. http://lds.about.com/library/weekly/2004/blscripture_calculators.htm
http://www.ldsscripturetools.com/

As most of you know, our beloved prophet, Gordon B. Hinckley passed away at the age of 97. His funeral was held yesterday, February 2nd. I was thinking of how I could honor his legacy and I came up with an idea. My friend and I have created a challenge for those willing to accept it: Read the Book of Mormon in 97 days. We are trying to get everyone to start on the same day.

Here are the details:

1. Go to www.hinckleychallenge.com and create an account (free, of course).
2. On Feb 4, 2008 (the Monday following the funeral) have an FHE lesson on the Book of Mormon and begin your reading.
3. Each day you read, record what page number you are on by going to www.hinckleychallenge.com. We would like this challenge to be heard all around the world!

Please forward this message to everyone you know. We would love to see over 1 million pages of the Book of Mormon read by the time this challenge has ended.

Do you want to show your support?

Do you want to follow the prophet?

Do you want to get rid of all of your excuses for not reading and become a warrior?

Then join me in this challenge!!! We are going to spread this throughout the news media (TV and radio) and we've already contacted Fox news, KSL, CBS, and ABC. But we can not get the word out to everyone without your help! Please forward this on to EVERYONE in your address book. Time is of the essence!! This will be the one forwarded message that everyone will be happy to get :). –Jake Andersen

Google finally unlocked my Blog!!!

Wow I have so much to tell you. I don't know where to start. I am HUGE!!! I would love to enclose a pic, but I haven't taken one lately.

First off it is Sunday. Sunday is a time to think. The coming 12 months are going to be busy with family occasions. First Christian will become an official Teenager in less then two weeks. Oh how I am scared and feeling a little old. Then the birth of our little Ethan (the name this week) in May. Andrew will finish Elementary in May and have a 5th grade graduation. Christian will finish Middle School in May and I don't know if they do anything for that. Then the babies blessing in June or July. August will bring the Baptism of Nathan and the beginning of cub scouts again. December will bring the ordination of Andrew as a Deacon. And last but not least Christian will move up to a Teacher in February of 2009. Oh what a year for us. I am so excited.

I have become so sick I had to leave my job and become a stay at home mom again. This time I really do stay at home as I am so sick. I have found a medicine that works, I just need insurance to pre approve it so I can get it again.

My family and friends are such a blessing in my life. They all make me feel ok about not doing much and they do all that they can to help my family. Like today Bonnie came to pick up my boys and take them to church. I am glad to be worthy of the love others show me and my family. Thank you.

Now I need to go to bed and see if I can actually sleep;-)